Quote article: "One of the three who received his FAA licenses this year, Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of Osama who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is named in a civil lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims alleging he helped to finance Osama's al-Qaeda network as it started up in the 1990s in Yemen and the Sudan."

Source: ABC News
By ERIC LONGABARDI and JOSEPH RHEE
Url: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/high-flying-bin-ladens/story?id=9271855

At least 12 members of Osama bin Laden's family currently hold Federal Aviation Administration pilot's licenses that make them eligible to fly aircraft anywhere in the United States, including three who received their licenses just this June, according to an analysis of FAA records provided to ABC News by a computer security firm, Safe Banking Systems.
Photo: The High-Flying Bin Laden?s; 13 Osama Kin Hold FAA Licenses: US Says No Terror Threat Posed by the Bin Laden Family?s Fascination with Aviation

As people who follow the issue closely are aware, there has been some debate over the involvement of a group of military officers stationed at FAA headquarters--generally referred to as the "military cell"--in the events of 9/11. Although I don't mean to recap the whole debate here, the basic jist is that the 9/11 Commission claimed that the military were unaware of the hijacking of United 93 until a few minutes before it crashed, but what about the military cell--were they too unaware of what was going on?

Yesterday, I was reading through the commission documents we have posted at the 911 Document Archive at Scribd , and I came across a transcript of FAA communications on the day of 9/11. You can find the following at page 59 (approximately 9:45 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.):

MR. : Tactical Net--

MR. : And this is Cleveland Center. Who's up?

MR. : It is the Command Center with about five or six people listening.

MR. : Okay. Mr. [inaudible], the chief, just asked if we have any military up or not? Are we pursuing that? We'd like to be able to track this guy (United 93) so we know what's going on, especially when we lose a transponder.

MR. : We have been in contact with the military cell here in the building and they're working the issue. I'm not sure where they are with--

The Wall Street Journal, by way of Siobhan Gorman, reports that "Civilian air-traffic computer networks have been penetrated multiple times in recent years, including an attack that partially shut down air-traffic data systems in Alaska, according to a government report."

The concerns are reiterated on the website of congressman Tom Petri.

But the notion that the FAA could allow (direct or indirect) internet access to flight control systems is dubious. What could be the reasons behind this publication? Let's examine some hypotheses.

• Genuine concern - Some security breaches to non-critical systems are blown out of proportion, but are made public in genuine concern for FAA IT security as it relates to national security
• Fearmongering - Fan the flames of the security hype, easing the adoption of new laws, allowing the government draconian control over internet infrastructure

I have obtained a new document via FOIA request. It is an FAA memo comprising a transcript of calls between various FAA facilities and other institutions on the day of 9/11, and was referenced in the 9/11 Commission Report, in endnote 128 to Chapter 1 (on page 459). It is not spectacularly exciting, but touches on awareness of all four hijacks, in particular the last three. You can find it here.

Continued here.

This comes from DNotice.org, in a piece entitled 'The NORAD Papers III,' which follows two other informative reports from them about NORAD that people have submitted to 911bloggger.

Their article begins:

In The NORAD Papers and The NORAD Papers II we learned from government/military documents, media reports, university curricula, etc. dating from before 1995 to 1999 that NORAD since its founding in 1958 was tasked with three missions:

1. surveillance and control of the airspace covering the United States and Canada;

2. providing the NCAs [National Command Authorities] with tactical warning and attack assessment of an aerospace attack against North America; and

3. providing an appropriate response to any form of an air attack.1

The Officiial Excuse for 9/11, 'Failure To Imagine' Excuse Debunked!

The Bush Administration offered up the 'failure to imagine' excuse for the response to 9/11.
President Bush: "We knew he [Osama bin Laden] had designs on us, we knew he hated us. But there was nobody in our government, and I don't think [in] the prior government, that could envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale," he said.

Well according to NORAD's own statements, Project Positive Force, a Special Operations unit tasked with thinking like a terrorist and how they might attack the United States, "imagined" that a hijacked plane would be crashed into the Pentagon.

Terry Ropes, the Special Operations officier, defended the idea, but Pacific Command thought it was too unrealistic. Numerous warnings in the late 1990's also included a possible plot to fly an explosive laden aircraft into an American city.

The information contained in the explosive report, also discusses NORAD's regular intercept exercises of hijack aircraft prior to 9/11!

Read the full article from the Guardian Unlimited: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/apr/15/usa.september11

feedback, ideas, link/logic/fact checking, etc. appreciated. This one is too long, i think, and i still could've put a lot more stuff into it, but my goal is mainly to introduce info to new people and interest them in following the links, i'm just summarizing research others have done.

9/11 Truth, Part 6 of 11: Air Defense “Failures”, Simultaneous War Games & Continuity of Government
http://911reports.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/911-truth-part-6-of-11-air-defense-“failures”-simultaneous-war-games-continuity-of-government/

Click here for all the articles in the 9/11 Truth Overview Series
http://911reports.wordpress.com/911-truth-overview-series/

OpEdNews.com http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=8800

This article summarizes some of the events concerning the 4 hijacked flights on 9/11, provides information on standard air defense procedures and warnings received prior to 9/11 and gives a brief overview of the multiple war games and military operations surrounding 9/11, including Continuity of Government planning. Links are provided for more in depth research.

Air Defense “Failures”:

Flight 11:

Wait; are they suuurre that wasn't a missile surrounded by a hologram? Well, it's just establishment propaganda anyway; i do hope someone or many are checking it for new info, contradictions, lies, distortions, slip-ups and the like, i don't have the time (or the brains)

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/21411024.html

Midwest Pilot Almost Hit Plane On 9/11
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - Midwest Airlines pilot Gerald Earwood was flying about 100 miles west of New York when he first noticed what seemed like wisps of smoke coming off the World Trade Center.

Roughly 15 minutes later, Earwood and co-pilot Eric Fjelstad were frantically maneuvering their DC-9 jet to avoid colliding with United Airlines Flight 175, the second airplane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Their work, following orders from air traffic controllers, saved the lives of about 30 passengers and five crew members of Midwest Flight 7.

A minute or so later, United 175 -- which also came close to colliding with other planes that morning -- struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.

"In some cases, the facts published in this book, as told to her in interviews with airmen and airline pilots who were involved, differ markedly from the account in The 9/11 Commission Report," retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold, the commander of 1st Air Force in Panama City on Sept. 11, said in "Touching History."
"After reading this book, you decide," Arnold wrote."

Who Is? Larry Arnold
http://visibility911.com/jongold/?p=159

Pilot Adds Perspective To Sept. 11 Attacks

By TED JACKOVICS
The Tampa Tribune
Published: June 8, 2008

Updated:

"Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11," by Lynn Spencer (Free Press, $26)

The late U.S. Army Col. Milton "Bud" Halsey once shared his thoughts on how Cold War air defense units would have responded in an attack on the United States.
"You never know how individuals will react in combat," said Halsey, a Bronze and Silver Star-decorated veteran of two wars. "You have to wait until they take some hits. You won't know how well they will perform until you learn how they respond to casualties."

http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2008/03/faa-notified-military-of-911-hijacked.html

The official story of 9/11 is that the FAA delayed notifying the military about the hijackings. That false statement has been debunked elsewhere.

However, even if the FAA for some reason had not notified the military, it doesn't matter.

Why?

Because the Secret Service -- which is contact with the President and Vice President at all times -- was watching everything the FAA was watching on their radar:

• Counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke says that, on 9/11, the Secret Service had “a system that allowed them to see what FAA’s radar was seeing.” (Page 7)

• Barbara Riggs, a future deputy director of the Secret Service who was in its Washington, DC headquarters on 9/11, will describe the Secret Service “monitoring radar” during the attacks (see also Star-Gazette 6/5/2006)

The Lost Flight -- Who Knew What and When About Flight AA77 On 9/11?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7140292755378838617&hl=en

The video compares the two main versions of what was known about Flight AA77 on 9/11 before it allegedly crashed into the Pentagon. The versions are

(1) that there was prior awareness for up to about one hour before the crash about the flight at least with the military and the FAA and in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, and

(2) that the FAA lost the flight for 36 minutes and did not inform the military or anyone else about it until four minutes before the crash.

Three important statements by former Transportation Secreatry Norman Mineta are shown in support of the first version. However, the viewer is encouraged to make her/his own conclusions. The material is mainly from the 9/11 Commission's video archives and other public sources and its use constitutes an instance of "fair use" of this material.

Source: http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/view.php?hidDate=2007-06-14&hidType=OPT&hidRecord=0000000000000000163060

Like Hariri Tribunal, UN Must Help 'The Americans' To Establish 9/11 Truth with Open Public Investigation Immediately To End Global 'War on Terror'!

Thursday June 14 2007 11:15:44 AM BDT

Deepak Sarkar, Canada

Like Hariri Tribunal, UN Must Help ‘The Americans’ To Establish 9/11 Truth with Open Public Investigation Immediately To End Global ‘War on Terror’! (Deepak Sarkar, June 11, 2007, www.kolki.com )

[NORAD: North American Air Defense; NEADS: North Eastern Air Defence; FAA: Federal Aviation Authority; NMCC: National Military Command Center; NRO-National Reconnaissance Office ]

Robin Hordon and David Ray Griffin appeared on Carol Brouillet's show last night. Griffin was on air for just a few minutes, plugging his new book; most of the show was Hordon's. For those who are not familiar with Robin Hordon, he is an ex-pilot and ex-flight controller (fired when he went on strike during the Reagan years). Robin Hordon is very level-headed and it seems to me he brings a number of valid points to the debate. He explains in detail how the scramble protocols used to work, how they were changed in June 2001 and exactly what effect it had on the morning of 9-11. He also discusses what the FAA would normally do in the case of a hijacking, and what they were doing on 9-11.

Hordon also discusses the wargames, and how they would affect procedures that day (according to Hordon, they wouldn't). Plenty of other interesting stuff from a guy who knows first-hand how air traffic control works.

The show is already available as a podcast:

1st hour
http://xml.wtprn.com/Brouillet/0705/20070507_Mon_Brouillet1.mp3
2nd hour
http://xml.wtprn.com/Brouillet/0705/20070507_Mon_Brouillet2.mp3
(7 megs each)

Guns & Butter
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007, 1:00PM

Interview with pilot and former air traffic controller, Robin Hordon. The job of air traffic control; Flight AA11; the hijack versus the emergency protocol; war games and radar screen blips; remote control of aircraft, i.e., flight director; and Flight AA 77. Robin Hordon is a member of Pilots for 9/11 Truth. Visit their website at www.pilotsfor911truth.org

Guns and Butter airs at 1pm Pacific on KPFA 94.1FM Berkeley, and streaming and archived at www.kpfa.org

www.gunsandbutter.net

...the FAA had to be the scapegoat. Not NORAD. If the Pentagon--under attack---needed a fresh infusion of cash, since hundreds of billions (2.3 trillion reportedly) was missing---they would have to be exonerated. And That was why, finally, General Richard Myers, seated in his office (allegedly) throughout the ENTIRE 911 attack, was promoted for his inactions (rather than convicted in a military court martial) for dereliction of duty, along with numerous other officials after 911.

Why No Norad On 911?
By Douglas Herman, USAF Veteran
Exclusive to Rense.com
2-26-7

http://www.rense.com/general75/whyno.htm

"We, to this day, don't know why NORAD told us what they told us. It was just so far from the truth." --Thomas H. Kean, Commission Chairman, to the Washington Post